


No Place In Heaven

by MadameNoire



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Made Myself Cry, I don't care what DC writers say, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Jason Todd is a nerd, Jason Todd is an angel, Kinda, Martha Wayne loves her grandkids, Past Character Death, Past Child Character Death, The Author Regrets Nothing, This Is Sad, and so does Thomas Wayne, and this time it's Jason AND Damian, but hopeful ending, everybody needs a hug, ok no comfort, that's Martha and Thomas, this is an answer for Bruce telling Thomas he has one child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23032411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameNoire/pseuds/MadameNoire
Summary: Martha and Thomas talk to Bruce about his son.Bruce thinks it's Damian.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Martha Wayne & Thomas Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Martha Wayne & Thomas Wayne
Comments: 16
Kudos: 346





	No Place In Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> This came as a result of [this post](https://darcyskat.tumblr.com/post/611790219355832320/broke-bruce-telling-thomas-he-has-one-son-woke)

Bruce knew he shouldn't be _here_. And not because it'd been so long since he'd come to terms with the knowledge that, once everything was said and done, he wouldn't go there- didn't deserve to _go there_. 

Burce had always known, after all, that his place was not in _heaven_ , with _his parents_. 

No, it was because there where people waiting for him, down there. The League, the Family, _his family_. He knew he shouldn't be wasting time better invested in coming up with a plan to go back down, where there were people trying to make his body wake up.

He knew he should go back.

Just.

"My Bruce, just look at you"

"Looks like you're no longer our little boy, son"

_Just not yet._

Because it wasn't every day that one could talk face to face with one's _long dead parents._

They kept talking, but Bruce wasn't really paying attention to their words. Who could? Who would, when he could stare at his mother's beautiful, dimpled smile, or at his father's deep dark eyes, or- just, look at them. Hearing those voices he'd almost forgotten, the memories of them stained with the screams and terror of that damn night. Now there wasn't a thin line of red falling from his mother's lips, or a growing dark stain on his father's suit. It was all white and gold and perfect. 

"-when your little boy told us how stubborn you could be when you wanted"

 _Wait_... 

"Just like your mother" 

_What_?

"Dear..."

"M-my boy?" 

His parents little banter stopped, and their broad smiles became small and sad. His mother spoke first. 

"We met him, when he, well, when he-" 

"When he died" cut Bruce's father, because Thomas Wayne wasn't a man of small talks and pleasantries, now that Bruce remembered. "We were there to welcome him, and he came to leave with us, until he went back. Because he went back, right, Bruce?" 

Bruce's heart clenched on his chest at the worry on his father's face. He never thought- it never came to his mind what would it be like if his parents were there when his family started to grow. What kind of grandparents would they be to Cass and the boys? 

"Yes" Bruce muttered once he found his voice. "He came back" 

Yes, Damian had come back, and it only took putting the whole family through hell, and permanently severing his relationship with Jason, who had yet to come back since they got Damian back. 

"I couldn't believe it when I saw-" his mother's smile was stunning when she started, but then she stopped and looked at him somewhat ashamed for a moment. "I mean, of course it made me- us, it made us so sad, that such a young and beautiful child was- that your son had died, but Bruce! He's so beautiful, he's such a brilliant child, so full of life... So full of love for his father" 

Thomas snorted. 

"Love? That kid adored his old man" he said, looking at Bruce with so much pride Bruce would have started to cry if he wasn't already. "Little rascal would talk our ears off with stories about his dad being this mighty superhero that fought for the innocent and weak, who was both respected and feared by enemies and allies equally. And if his words showed how proud he was of being your son, Bruce, the way his eyes looked like when talking about you were all that was needed to know how much that kid loves you"

Bruce heard those words with his heart on his throat. Out of all his kids, he'd thought Damian would be the least to talk about him like that. Second only to Jason, of course. Because between the relationship he and Dick developed in his absence, and all the scenes of weakness and anger Bruce had displayed in front of him, Damian was nothing but disappointed with him, with how the real Bruce, the real Batman, didn't stood a chance against the semi-god Talia had painted him to be.

But to hear this, to hear from the most trusted of lips that his son loved him, that his son admired him, it was enough to make the Batman cry like everything else had failed to.

"He was so well mannered, and it was so adorable when he had a slip of his accent"

Damian had improved a lot with the accent since he came to the Manor, but there was recorded proof of his last slip last week.

"His eyes were so beautiful, I think not even the emerald earrings your father got me for my birthday shone that bright"

Under certain light, Damian's eyes looked almost as green as emeralds, almost as green as Jason's.

"And he was so smart, always quoting this author or the other, making your mother read to him for hours, or making me sit with him and debate about the writing style or the character development of his favorite books"

He'd heard Damian quote a couple of books to Jason, before their fall out, ancient Arabic ones, because when it came to western literature, he preferred non-fiction.

"I'm so glad he came back to you, Bruce my dear, but I can't help to miss my little Jaybird"

Damian...

Damian wasn't in heaven when they found him.

"And I do hope you took him to the Knights game you promised him for that 'A+' on history, Bruce. Your Jaylad didn't spent a week out of patrol working on those extra credits for nothing"

Bruce felt the pull on his stomach, the familiar feeling telling him Zatanna was pulling him back to his body. His parents kept talking without noticing, telling him how they weren't happy for his choices of life, but Jason had explained things to them, and how good it had done to people in Gotham, to Dick, to Jason himself, and especially to Bruce.

Bruce kept looking into space, into nothing, trying and failing to ignore the pain of claws digging into his chest, the dizziness, the anger, and the emptiness that filled him. Trying to convince himself that it all was because of Zatanna's spell, and not something deeper, coming for him from the inside.

While his parents started to fade away, specific words from each of them rumbled inside his head like drums against his ears.

_'My little Jaybird'_

_'Your Jaylad'_

And, apparently, that was the first thing that had come from his lips once he woke up, because everyone surrounding him - the boys, Zatanna, Clark and Jon - went still, and it was Dick, with a cold stare and sharp words, the first to break the silence.

"He's not here, Bruce. You made sure of that"

And Bruce closed his eyes, because now more than ever, he felt certain that his place wasn't in heaven, with his parents. Now he'd made sure of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr as [DarcySkat](https://darcyskat.tumblr.com/)


End file.
